WALES new boy Nicky Robinson earned the praises of older brother Jamie after slotting in comfortably at the alien position of full-back.

"He played very well because he is not an experienced No 15," said Jamie.

"Nicky didn't seem to be caught out of position; he was there or thereabouts and offers something in attack. I thought he did well."

The younger Robinson was refreshingly candid in his assessment of the Welsh performance during the 35-12 defeat - their ninth in the last 11 meetings with Ireland.

"One positive out of the day was our commitment, but there weren't too many others," said Nicky, who shone at outside-half during the recent Under-21 World Cup.

"To be honest, we got convincingly beaten. Although we showed some good play at times, we let ourselves down with dropped passes. We couldn't hold on to the ball.

"As soon as we got it we tended to turn it over quickly. We have to try and keep the ball longer. We cut them - gaps opened up but we could not quite finish.

"I enjoyed it but I would feel a lot more pleased if we had won. We will have to wait and see but, hopefully, I will get another run."

Jamie, at 23, two years older than Nicky, did his chances of going to the World Cup no harm by keeping Ireland star Brian O'Driscoll in check.

"I seemed to spend most of my time getting up off the deck after making tackles. But it was nice to get a game under our belts and be reminded we are professional rugby players and not professional trainers.

"Considering we only had two team runs, I don't think we did too badly. We were ring-rusty and our handling let us down a bit.

"We weren't as clinical as Ireland and spent most of the game defending, which really takes it out of you.

"But we only started rugby training last week because we have been working on our physical development.

"Everyone was shattered. It was our first game of the season and Ireland ran really hard. They worked their tries quite well, hanging on to the ball for a long time."

Blindside flanker Rhys Oakley, who joined Gwent Dragons from Bristol at the end of last season, was the other debutant in Wales' starting line-up.

"I was quite pleased. It was not the best game I have ever had but not the worst. It was solid and the Irish back row were a tough challenge."

Fellow flanker Richard Parks, with two caps before Saturday's game the senior figure in the Welsh back row, said, "We felt, as a team, we were in the game. We blooded a few new players against a strong Irish side. It was an encouraging performance.

"I think I did myself justice but, as a side, there were some areas we need to work on.

"We made a few handling errors in key areas. At this level, you can't afford that."